Mask by Jaime Gonzalez Morales

Top of the Sierras

Pupusas Fall From the Sky

Masa de arroz/ Masa de maiz// Much of what I try to be/ is useless. // How else/ would testimony matter? Jim Bodeen

PINNED TO MIRROR WITH TOOTHPASTE

Photo by Tim Bodeen

Shield Maker Marty Lovins (+playlist)

Looking back at Earth, spinning.

Circle of Love with SOS

Courage, Discipline, Integrity, Wisdom, Compassion: Our CORE Values

Mt. Rainier from Paradise Basin

Winter Solstice, 2013

Spencer Creek, Oregon Coast

Sunset before winter rains

ABOVE EMMONS GLACIER IN A BONSAI FOREST

Sure, it stretches me,

sitting here.

I read the poem again.

The breeze picks up,

and my notebook,

resting on its own stone

gets my attention.

Nothing blows away.

Bees would like

some of that beet juice

dried and stained

on my fingers.

Jim Bodeen

White River

September, 2013

Suiseki Gallery Beverly Beach

Show closes at high tide

Bonsai Over Glacier Snout

Emmons Glacier on Mt. Rainier

Robert Steven and the Englemann Spruce

From wet, wrapped and wound raffia, tied, to rebar, shaping this tree from the wild.

Bob Carlson, Suiseki teacher, Spokane River

"Take off your wedding ring. // You might scratch the stone."

Suiseki Collecting White River

It's music // is the language // of the universe

ROOT OVER ROCK

Emmons Morain Trail / Rebuilt after storm / four winters past

YOU CAN WRITE A BIG POEM

Recording what's been carved/on historical markers

BEER COOLER CEMETERY

Bear Country

Potting Golden Glow Juniper

Crushed walnut in sock/polishes pot with no sheen/behind this ritual

Hands Across Generations

Karen Bodeen sewing a new outfit for Tygee while finishing Chief Joseph Vest

Chief Joseph Vest for Children

Karen Bodeen's Chief Joseph Vest for Sandy Hook Elementary School, contains the names of all the children on the inside lining. Poems of William Blake and William Butler Yeats have been made into tiny quilts inside the two pockets. A video on the meditation of violence accompanies the vest as Karen sews with a grandchild.

Uncle Tim, Caretaker

Uncle Tim brought us the skis when we were still in diapers.

Early morning notebook

Time is short.

The Presidential Interview

That place,neither pastoral or political.Even in uniform, not in uniform.I insisted on tying my own tie.The President noticed.My knot is not his knot.He noticed.He glimpsed that part I give away.That part that says,I'm from somewhere else.He saw that place for a second.He didn't know what it was,but he trusted it.

Jim BodeenHigh Camp

Spring light sprung

Snow bouncing

GOD AND MAN

What are people for? the theologian asks. The child asks, Why do we have to be human?

TALKING ABOUT NUTS

Talking about nuts,Josh says,Carlos almosthit me in the nuts.

Cold Mountain

Han Shan, packed for survival, along with first aid kit, Swiss Army Knife, matches, and shovel.

PRINCIPIANTES

stays alert. No one linecalls attention to itself.The nothing that sings.The beginner begins.

Jim Bodeen2011-2013

Caminando con Eliseo Perez

Leen con nosotros, y da nos su ideas y comentario. Read with us and make your commentaries here so we can bring the world into our basement conversation. Charlas picositas en el sotano

Notebook and the Chaco Stick

Far Kiva Homecoming

Chaco Stick at rest from a high place

The Whispered Gift

Breaking silence after Lauds,
Guestmaster whispers, Your facehas the look of the Eschaton.One eye catches, nods at his word.

Jim Bodeen 1 April 2008--1 April 2011

Gateway to the Goat Rocks

Looking SouthWest From Paradise Basin

Kate in Paradise Basin

Josh Stepping Into his Bindings

High Camp Lodge, White Pass, Cascade Mountains, Washington State

SNOW CHILDREN

Kid's Castle, City of God, Parade

Snow Light Below, Sky Light Above

Skis carry the body
across the mountain
between light and light.
The backpack, always practical,
is a tool for just in case,
including the small pleasure
of chocolate. Water and meatloaf
sandwich are necessities,
as is the notebook,
The Rule of Benedict for Monks,
and Songs of Cold Mountain.

Jim Bodeen

Sunrise on Hogback

Practicing Soul Shine--Better than Sunshine//Soul Shine like Son Shine//God Shine Washing over us

High Mountain Invitation of Light

THE TEMPLE OF LIGHT AND OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL PEANUT BUTTER

All crosses here come from crossed
ski tips and will get you in trouble,
but make no mistake,
there are no mistakes in this lodge,
filling with light, practicing
to be nothing more
than the light that it is.

Jim Bodeen
24 January 2011

Self-Portrait with Elk

The child you take up the mountain is not the same child you'll bring home

TOCAYAS, JUANA

Juana recites hombres neciosWe make a movie
We exchange internet addresses
We talk about our lives in the poem
Both of us in uniform,
Both of us go back to work

Jim Bodeen
22 November 2010

Juana sirviendo poesia

La Catrina en yakima

Nuestra catrina, Aurora Pena-Torres

Altar por Raul Sanchez

Raul Sanchez

Dia de los muertos, Mighty Tieton

Along side, and below...

Go that way. Keep going.

Third Burroughs, Mt. Rainier

Sol y Sombra

Third Burroughs on Mt. Rainier
follows a moon walk. At Fall Equinox
it's all low angles into ice light.
A sandwich, a piece of chocolate.
Monks know how close
it is to your own house.
Third Burroughs is a bear
on the trail.
Fifteen minutes here
carries one into winter.

COPPER BASIN

A begging bowl out
of the village. A dream camp

one can drop into.
Stay is limited. In summer

you can take off your shoes.
Each breath turns into scripture.

Your own footprint confuses.
Your poems will be clean and clear.

It is not summer here.
Surprise and reversal.

Jim Bodeen
September, 2010

Vonnie & Craig's Esperance 1

Sky over Copper Basin

Copper Basin afternoon, Fall equinox

Before the Equinox

No one here has to do too much.
Bring "Too much" down to size.
This house. Esta casa where
you've been given this chance.

All one has to do here
is follow directions.
Obedecer. Good courage
holds water, weaves

itself into each room.
This house again.
The door swings both ways.
Either way, be present

again. No va, as Mexicans say,
No go. Daily travel, then.
Back in time, in dreams,
how we listen for the poem.

Jim Bodeen
Summer, 2010

Llama Obama--Call him up!

Call him up and tell him what you want. Barack, Mr. President. Sir, you have not done what you promised us. Sir, you have not done what you told us you were going to do. This is a very sincere request. It's not innocence. No, no. Don't misunderstand. If you pick up the phone, we'll help you.

Larry Tuohy at Barataria Preserve

Jim Bodeen

Even a charged word like Storypath/Cuentocamino, gift and invitation, bows before its ancestors, and my beginnings as a conscious being begin with Karen, whose person and story have made me, and kept me dizzy, for 48 years, 44 of those years in marriage. Karen walks with me, and helps me walk. There is some evidence that I do the same for her.
During the lifetime of the word guiding us during these nine years, poetry and quilts have come from the gifts of adult children, grandchildren, and an expanding experience of family. Our children live challenging, generous lives. We are grateful for them daily. My mother, with her North Dakota roots, has completed her earthly life, leaving us seminal North Dakota imagery.
Karen says, I take what the day gives me, and these words guide our family on the daily journey. Learning our steps as Grandma and Grandpa, then, inform the word, making this blog possible.

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WHAT BEES KNOW--for Beth

Netting covers the face
but protects no one.
Trying to enter
the world of bees,

the beekeeper
laughs out loud.
"You look like you're trying
to bag a lion."

Jim Bodeen

Beth Binch, Beekeeper

No one owns the bees. Bees are protected by law.

Dorothy Alice Everett Benson

Karen's dad in car on left, and mom in the hat at right.

Karen's Grandparents

Viola & John Everett; Louise & Eldor Benson 1947

How Karen Works

Karen looks for patterns

Bachelor Buttons at Poetry Pole

Walking into Vocation

Not dangerous work,
the Hell you say. The thing
about a parable, or a poem
or song or story, is that
the act of love
that creates it
is too much for even
the person or persons
bringing it into the world.
Come to El Salvador,
Medardo said,
and you will write the best poems
of your life. He didn't say
those poems will take you apart
piece by piece.

Obispo Gomez en Apopa

Mary Campbell at Poetry Pole

from Obit of Jon de Cortina

Mary at the Poetry Pole

Only a Canary

The poet who is not a voice
for his people, no matter
his gifts or beautiful words,

if he doesn't speak
for his people, he will
only ever be a canary

Jim Bodeen

Meal at the Altar

Comunidad de Oscar Romero

This light, these hands

Who? Neighbor/Projimo Who is my

Kunayaya

Perspective

Desolation Arch

Karen

Bright Angel Trail

Say Hello to Vishnu Schist

Tim filming in Maligne Canyon

ice mysteries

Jasper

Storypath/Cuentocamino

Storypath/Cuentocamino likes to walk out of itself into something like immersion or exhaustion. It's about listening and being called. It's in the blood beautiful in the brain. It is that much God, a necessity.

Bamboo en Tonacatepeque

Storyboard

I believe in the Parable of Gluestick, in the mixture of poetry, theology, photography, testimonio/testimony, and sometimes, placed in unexected places. Parables have nothing to do with safety for anyone. I want the poem at risk. I want the poet at risk.

The Notebooks

A series of notebooks is used in a process of during and after, and now and then. Made and remade. I consider each notebook a finished thing, complete, although it may be used again to further the work of the imagination.